MOVE on up

For the past two years Deutsche Bank’s John Cryan, Credit Suisse’s Tidjane Thiam and Barclays’ Jes Staley have been able to blame poor performance on becalmed markets. Higher volatility undermines that excuse. Trading revenues must grow or they risk shareholder revolt.

Context News

Deutsche Bank’s Chief Executive John Cryan blamed a 12 percent year-on-year drop in annual net revenue on “low financial-market volatility and muted client activity” when the lender released its full year 2017 results on Feb. 2.

The Cboe Volatility Index, known as the VIX, the most widely followed barometer of expected near-term volatility for the S&P 500 index on Wall Street, closed lower on Feb. 6, a day after it hit its highest level since 2015.